Second half blitz sees Barcelona rout Newcastle

Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski each scored twice as a rampant Barcelona dumped Newcastle United out of the Champions League. The visitors showed immense spirit to twice equalise through the rapid Anthony Elanga in a competitive first half and cancel out goals from Raphinha and Marc Bernal. But the Magpies fell apart after the restart and goals from Fermin Lopez, Raphinha and a double from Lewandowski ended their European adventure in sobering fashion.

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Eze and Rice fire Arsenal past Leverkusen into quarter-finals

Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze opened his Champions League account with a stunning goal as his side outclassed Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at home to reach the quarter-finals with a 3-1 aggregate victory. The tireless Declan Rice made it 2-0 just past the hour mark with a precise low finish and Leverkusen, who ended Arsenal’s 100% record in this season’s competition when they had the better of a 1-1 draw in last week’s first leg, never really threatened a comeback.

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Havertz rescues draw for Arsenal on return to Leverkusen

Kai Havertz scored a late penalty as Arsenal came from behind to draw with Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the BayArena. The German forward who spent 10 years at Leverkusen before moving to Chelsea for £71m in 2020, slotted the ball past Janis Blaswich in the 89th minute after Noni Madueke had been brought down by Malik Tillman. Arsenal had gone behind for the first time in the competition this season when Robert Andrich headed in a well-worked Alex Grimaldo corner.

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Newcastle pay penalty as Barca battle to earn draw

Lamine Yamal rescued a draw for Barcelona with a 96th-minute penalty to deny Newcastle United a famous win in the Champions League. Newcastle looked to have taken control of the first leg of their last-16 tie when Harvey Barnes fired the hosts in front with a first-time finish late on. But Barcelona were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time after substitute Dani Olmo was brought down by Malick Thiaw inside the box. Lamine Yamal stepped up and coolly sent goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way to level the tie.

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Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni handed provisional one-match ban

Gianluca Prestianni will not be available for Benfica’s Champions League playoff at Real Madrid on Wednesday night after Uefa suspended him following allegations that he racially abused Vinícius Júnior during the first leg. The one‑game ban is a provisional mea­sure as an investigation continues. Benfica have said they will appeal and regret being “deprived” of the winger, but the club admitted they did not expect to be able to prevent the 20-year-old Argentinian from missing the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu.

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